It has been very cold here in Tulsa after our snow. Sadie has finally adapted. She loves to go outside and run around in the snow.
It exhausts her though. So she falls asleep in my lap while I’m watching tv at night.
Snow doesn’t phase our little Pom Kodi at all. We put him on a diet and it seems to be working so now he’s wanting to play fetch with me and Sadie, and he and Sadie chase each other around the house. He’s livened up quite a bit.
I’ve been trying to keep the birds fed using suet balls and other high energy foods. This cardinal wasn’t complaining.
I think this is a Carolina Wren that came by for a bite.
We get dark eyed juncos both on the feeder and on the ground.
There is something special about juncos.
And the opposite for the quiet juncos at the bluejays. Squawk, squawk, they say whenever they visit,.
A through the window photo.
And we get lots of doves. This one is all puffed up against the cold.
We had a bunch of hawks one afternoon. Noisy and boistrous.
Lots of squirrels.
That’s it for this week.
I’m linking with Eileen’s Saturday’s Critters. Check it out, lots of great photographers who love all sorts of animals.
It has been raining a lot in Tulsa lately. It makes the trails muddy and I don’t want to damage them so I go places with more sustainable trails. Fortunately Ray Harral Nature Center in the Tulsa suburb of Broken Arrow has asphalt paved trails so that is one of my go to’s when I get the yen to go hiking when things are muddy.
I found this male northern cardinal. I brought my good camera and he was nice enough to sit still while I got his photo. I saw glimpses of other birds but didn’t get their photos.
Found this young squirrel playing coy with me.
I used the Merlin App to track who else was around. I got a glimpse of a red-eyed vireo. The Fish Crow called loudly as did the Carolina Wren.
I spotted this painted rock in one of the pollinator gardens at the center. I put it in my pocket and carried it around during my hike and then put it in a different pollinator plot not very far from where I found it. I used to love making painted rocks and hiding them. I am going to get some paint and sealer and try again. I’m not much of an artist and I settled on a yellow sunburst on a blue background. A friend of mine mocked me saying that Walmart was going to sue me for infringing on their logo.
When I first started I hid them way too well and nobody was finding them. I guess from my geocaching background. So I started putting them in more visible places and that worked out better.
A bunny wandered into range in my backyard trailcam.
And a brown thrasher.
Yesterday we got a reprieve from the rain so son and I mowed the yard. I mowed the front as he caught up on his beauty sleep. I trimmed the front and backyards. My 35 year old cord electric trimmer finally quit a couple weeks ago and I got a nice battery powered model to replace it. Much more powerful and convenient than dragging a cord around all over the place.
So son mowed the backyard. He likes to be creative in his patterns. Used to drive me crazy cuz of all the mohawks he left but now he is still creative yet no more mohawks. (Mohawks are unmowed strips of grass that look kind of like a Mowhawk haircut.) I think he got tired of mowing the yard twice.
It got hot, yesterday, here I am all cleaned up doing my zombie walk in the 105F heat. (I don’t think it got to 105 but it was still hot.)
Don’t forget to cheer for the Oklahoma Thunder Sunday evening when they battle the Indiana Pacers in the final game of the NBA Championship!
I am linking with Eileen’s Saturday’s Critters. Check it out. Lots of talented photographers participate.
My wife and I had coffee yesterday at place that has this nice outdoor space which always has a breeze. I love the sails that they use for shade. They actually allow some light through. I’ve been thinking about something like that for our back patio which is nice but doesn’t really have much shaded area. Here in Oklahoma with our high winds I think it would be imprudent to do this as a do it yourself project. The wind loads on the sails and supporting post would be considerable. Fortunately I have a friend who is a mechanical engineer and knows how to do those kinds of calculations.
I fired up the drone yesterday to get a few photos of the midday sky. I also pointed the camera straight down to our backyard. You can see our patio with no shade. The orange object in the middle of the yard is the drone landing pad and just to the left of it is me, piloting the aircraft. This is at about 40 meters above ground level.
And I lowered it to about 20 meters and took another photo.
And this is what I was taking photos of while the camera was pointed out. Check out my Skywatch Friday post next week for more.
So, should I see what would it entail to get some shade sails over our back patio?
I aimed the trailcam at a hidden corner of the backyard and when I pulled the chip a few days later I found this image of a fox!! It is beautiful and very small. That pot is only about 15 inches tall.
And here is our rescue terrier Sadie leaping at something. When we play fetch with a ball she bounds after the ball leaping in the air as she goes. She’s a fun dog.
My wife and I found this goose family on a hike.
I think this is a yellow crowned night heron. I found it at Lafortune Park here in Tulsa. I’ve seen them along this creek before.
Here is Lizzie the cat. I am still recovering from my knee replacement surgery and I am itching to get back to yoga so I thought I would try an online class at home. Lizzie wanted to join in but wanted my mat. Found out that I am not ready for regular yoga quite yet. Fortunately there are challenging chair yoga classes that I can take.
And our sleepy little tiny Pomeranian, Kodi. He doesn’t know that he’s tiny is a problem.
A short 20 second video of a few of the birds from the bird feeder cam in our backyard.
A squirrel with a long tail just chilling on the fence watching me take his photo from inside the house.
A compilation of four videos recently from our ebird camera. A male cardinal, a mourning dove, a squirrel, and a grackle. We have lots of visitors to our feeder.
The northwst corner of our backyard is looking a little dismal right now at the tail end of winter but I love teh shadow of our north/south fence projected on our east/west fence. And we got a bonus tree shadow from our neighbor and a bird feeder shadow. Just don’t look at the cast about yard furniture, random utility boxes, leaves and other debris.
Last Monday it was warm, all day. I declared it a shorts day and took a drink, my book, and camera out to the backyard.
Robins were out and about.
This is the same robin only on a fence and turned away. Amazing to me how they look like a completely different bird.
The mourning doves were out and about. They are such calm birds.
I got some golden hour light on this one.
This is a 29 second video summarizing the non-sparrow birds that visit the camera feeder. I’m up to about 220 visits a day. Almosts all of them house sparrows with some juncos thrown in. So what I call interesting birds is not very many. That’s okay.
A squirrel getting a drink and scrutinizing the trailcam
Catching Kodi, the Pomeranian, in the back yard
I went on a hike at Ray Harral Nature Center. Most of the critters were elusive. This fat little guy watched me while I walked by as he ate his lunch.
I could hear birds but didn’t see them except for glimpses of the cardinal.
I still haven’t seen a Carolina Wren in real life. I don’t add birds to my life list unless I see them and get a photograph. I think I am up to eight birds on my list. Don’t laugh at me.
I went on a walk along the Arkansas River and saw these. I think they are seagulls.
That’s a wrap. I’m wishing everyone and their families a Happy and Healthy New Years.
Here’s a sculptural critter, some sort of heron I think at the Linnaeus Demonstration Gardens.
And another artistic critter. This little girl on the back of a turtle at the Tulsa Botanic Garden.
I hardly ever use my drone for critter photography and this is “Appeal to the Great Spirit” at Woodward Park. I used my drone to get a different perspective on this sculpture.
In the backyard I got this squirrel getting his photo taken.
And a bunny out past 3 am.
And this leaping squirrel.
And some birds buzzing the backyard on a high speed low altitude run.
And these guys going for suet feeder.
And a Canadian Goose at Woodward Park contemplating the pros and cons of staying vs migrating.
This sight greeted me the other morning. A red shouldered hawk squatting on my trailcam in our backyard. I think he was looking for a mouse. We have bird feeders in the backyard which attracts a few birds and a whole bunch of squirrels and a few mice.
The trailcam captured this cat in our backyard a while back. I’m thinking he might be carrying a mouse in his mouth.
I went to Philbrook Museum of Art the other day. I saw this squirrel resting for the intense midday heat.
And this big ole hippo sculpture made out of car bumpers.
I rode my bike on the Arkansas River the other day and found this egret fishing in the Arkansas River.
And this group of geese hanging out.
And this cross species collection of egrets and great blue herons sharing their fishing grounds.
After years of construction Tulsa is opening up the new pedestrian bridge and putting the new Zink Lake Dam into service this weekend. I’m going to wait until the hubbub has died down a little bit before I go check it out.
